Belonging
by Dragonlover149
Summary: Even with the Reikai Tantei doing their job and getting rid of demons in Ningenkai, they can't get rid of everyone. This is a collection of stories of some of the events that happen in the lives of those demons.


Chapter 1: A Child's Pain

The weather was beautiful. It was neither too hot nor too cold. Living here, in Tokyo, was like a blissful dream. The flowers blossomed and covered the walls of the buildings, the wind blew playfully through the bushes and trees, and the sky was a deep celestial blue with puffy white clouds. As the sun shown brightly in the sky and the clouds drifted slowly with the gentle breeze, Shuko smiled at the children playing outside.

She had been working at the orphanage for 10 years. It was a spontaneous decision really. After she graduated from high school, a close friend of hers, Mirin, invited her to work in a nearby orphanage.

Shuko had a love for children and a need to help them so when she heard the offer, she laughed in delight and accepted it in a heartbeat. She never regretted her decision. Watching over children and knowing that what she did helped them was nothing less than a blessing. Every moment, from the sad, heart-felt stories to the joys and laughter that rang around her, was precious. Shuko didn't want to lose them. The children and her associates were nothing less than family now. Working at an orphanage was something that she wouldn't ever willingly give up.

As she watched the kids chase each other and laugh, the woman noticed a fellow worker coming closer. It was Mirin. She was tall and Japanese, with shoulder-length brown hair, dark brown eyes, and thin lips that were curved downwards in a troubled frown as she approached.

Mirin stopped a few feet away from Shuko and said wearily, "The others need you."

Shuko waited silently for an explanation. Mirin looked back at the building she came out from and started, "That girl...Irene...I don't know how you can deal with her. She's doing it again."

Doing what again? The 30-year old woman wanted to ask.

From the way Mirin sounded, it didn't seem like the situation was bad enough for Shuko to leave her post. Mirin's tone didn't sound alarmed. Rather...it was neutral, emotionless.

However, that was the calm before the storm.

The woman was unable to stay calm talking about the topic and she suddenly snapped. Like a broken dam, all of Mirin's emotions spilled out, like she had just reviewed a nightmarish situation in her mind.

She shuddered and her voice gradually rose to shrill pitch. "There are _bugs_ all over the walls, Shuko. We don't know how to stop them. Every time we kill one, four more come out from its body. How can a little girl do something like this? It's not natural. It's insane!"

The degree of change from the calm to fearful Mirin was astounding. Mirin's eyes were like the ones of a rabid animal, frenzied and uncontrollable. She looked ready to rip out her hair from stress.

"It's unbelievable!" she started screaming crazily, oblivious to the now silent children watching her with fearful eyes.

"People can't do these things. They can't live comfortably surrounded by thousands of bugs. They can't glow. They can't call bugs. They can't transform into a blue, demented, _thing!_ That girl has to be a monster! That thing can't be a child!"

Shuko stared at her in shock. She couldn't respond; the gears in her brain were still turning as she processed Mirin's words and assessed the situation.

Then she realized what was happening.

_Oh God._

Her eyes widened in alarm and she abruptly started running as fast as she could towards the building where Irene stayed.

As she got near, Shuko could distinctly hear yelling and terrified screams coming from inside.

Also, she could see several moving black and red lines on the ground leading into the building. They were ants, more than an army of them. There were a myriad other different types of bugs traveling alongside them too-crawling, wriggling, flying, and making their way to their destination in every way possible. Shuko could spot beetles, centipedes, cockroaches, larvae, moths and many more around her.

She swallowed, feeling bile threatening to come up from her throat, and tried to ignore the uncomfortable churning feeling of her stomach.

She could endure seeing a few bugs, but this...this was repulsive. Disgusted and even more alarmed, Shuko tried to hurry faster towards the scene.

In spite of her panic though, the woman carefully stepped over the living trails.

Irene adored bugs.

Coming in on her with bug guts all over her feet would definitely not be a good start to calming down the girl.

Once inside the building, Shuko stopped, her blood running cold. It was like Mirin said; bugs were all over the walls. They covered the walls and didn't leave a single spot on them empty. It was even worse than outside. At least outside, the bugs were only on the floor.

Inside, they were inches away on the wall, next to her head. She could see the details on the bugs that crawled by...A little closer, and they would be able to crawl on her...she could practically see the scene happening in her head and a chill ran down her spine at the prospect. She tried to ignore their existence like she did to the bugs outdoors, and trudged forward towards Irene's room and the source of the screams.

After rushing down the hall, Shuko halted in front of a dark blue door with the number 666 painted on in gold letters. She grimaced when she saw it. It was fitting to have the devil's number on the door to the room of a demon, but if felt cruel to the child who lived there. It was like marking her as a cursed child, forever forsaken and apart from human kind.

Shuko heaved a sigh and opened the door. She felt like retching the moment she saw the scene. Inside, three adults were screaming and writhing on the floor, hitting themselves in a desperate attempt to get the bugs off them. Shuko couldn't even recognize who they were. They were covered in swarms of ants and were overrun with beetles. Other types of bugs were flying around them, viciously biting and stinging them.

"Help! Get them off!" they screamed.

It was horrible.

But, despite her concern for her associates, Shuko walked straight past them and towards the small demon who heartlessly watched as the people who were writhing on the floor were bitten and stung.

The demon was grotesque, Shuko had to admit. She had seen it a few times before, but that never stopped her from feeling uneasy and fearful. It was like someone tried to make a new type of bug using a bunch of different types of bug parts and created this pitiful mutation of a beetle. It was blue all over with a beetle shell for its back. It had six hairy spider legs that protruded from the shell, a giant pincer at the tail end, and a human head sticking out from the shell, with two blue, cockroach-like antennas on the top. Its yellow eyes glowed as they watched the people suffering in front of it. It was undeniably sickening.

Fear wanted to make Shuko run and hide from the demon. However, she had to do something. She couldn't just sit idly on the sidelines and watch as some of her family was killed. She stopped a few feet away from the demon and demanded. "Irene! What are you doing?"

The demon's head snapped away from the scene to the woman's face. Her black, slit pupils regarded Shuko carefully.

"Watching," she said in an 'isn't it obvious?' tone. Her voice was raspy and low.

Shuko stared at Irene in horror. "But why?"

"They deserve it," the blue demon hissed inhumanly. "They tried to kill everyone inside my room. Murderers deserve to die."

Shuko blanched as the demon began giggling in a high-pitch, delirious voice. One of her spider legs lifted and swooped, showing Shuko the scene before her.

"My family's helping me destroy them too!"

It took a while for Shuko to figure out what Irene was talking about: her bugs. They were the only thing that Irene really cared for and considered as family. Most of the other things around her didn't matter, with exception to Shuko (though she didn't exactly know what Irene considered her as).

It was perfectly acceptable to be upset over someone dying, but making others suffer because of it? That was intolerable. A fit of anger overwhelmed Shuko.

"I'm ashamed of you,"

The monster stopped laughing. "What?"

"Killing people...What happened? Didn't you tell me when we first met that you were 'tired of it all'? I offered you another chance in this orphanage. I gave you a chance to live peacefully"

Irene's full attention was on Shuko.

"There's still a chance for you, but if you kill, you'll lose it."

"But they killed my bugs," the demon protested.

"Did you ask them to stop? Did you tell them not to do anything to the bugs in your room?"

Irene's silence answered her and she smiled sadly. She could imagine the workers coming in with pesticides while Irene was gone from her room and killing all the insects. Then Irene coming back, screaming as she saw them and thoughtlessly attacking them.

"Humans can't read other people's minds. We don't know what you want unless you tell us yourself. What you're doing right now is pointless. What's done is done and nothing will change. Killing them will only make things worse. It's been 2 years since I've met you...haven't you figured out that revenge is empty?"

After a moment of silence, Irene sighed. Even though she really wanted them dead, the woman was right. In a moment, the bugs left the three bodies on the floor and vacated the room. Then Irene changed into her human form, a young 7 year-old girl with auburn brown hair and dark blue eyes. She looked down coldly at the people lying on the floor.

Just because she was letting them live didn't mean that she had to like them.

"They're lucky. No major damage has been done to them, though they will need to rest for a week or two. One more hour and they would've died"

Shuko heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness"

Honestly, the people on the floor were not in good shape. Their faces were extremely swollen and covered in bug bites. Shuko suspected that even more might've been done to them.

As if her silent question was heard, Shuko heard Irene speak from behind her. "My bugs ate some of their spirit energy - about half of it should be gone. It'll take 2 weeks or so for it to recharge"

The woman winced. That didn't sound very pleasant, but she supposed that it was what they deserved for angering the little girl.

"It'll turn out okay. Anyways, I'm going to tell the others what happened. Watch over them for me, alright?"

"Okay"

* * *

All the other workers were really unhappy. Shuko, on the other hand, was relieved. There was a meeting after the entire incident about whether Irene could stay in the orphanage or not. Fortunately, Shuko managed to get the owner to allow her to stay. The catch was that Shuko had to be the one to take care of her and would be responsible for any catastrophe that might happen.

It was a price that she would readily accept with open arms.

The brown-eyed brunette sat on her bed, looking out the window and at the night sky as she pondered over how she was going to manage her new task without making Irene suspicious. She didn't want the girl to know. It was depressing having the knowledge that you were always being watched because people didn't trust you. It was a painful feeling. Shuko couldn't make her go through that, not when she promised Irene that she'd have a peaceful life at the orphanage.

A quiet knock on the door disturbed her thoughts.

"Come in"

The very girl she was thinking about came in.

That was unexpected. Irene rarely came to her room unless something was bothering her.

"What brings you here?"

"I couldn't sleep" the girl responded simply.

"Ah..."

Irene walked over to Shuko's bed and sat besides her. They remained silent for a few minutes, until the demon finally spoke.

"You know, when I first met you, I thought that humans were all disgusting. They didn't care about others. I don't know too much in depth about youkai, since I never knew my father, but for humans, I was sure I was right. If something was different, they would be stubborn and never accept it. My own mother threw me away because I'm a half-breed, only half of what she didn't know. Even if I'm part youkai, I'm still part human too, right? I can still feel like everyone else. But even being a little different can be a reason for someone to throw you away. Though I tried to fit in with other children, they would never accept a freak like me. I'm too different. I have an affinity with bugs and that's unacceptable. I thought I lost all faith in humans by the time I met you."

Shuko listened quietly, amazed that the girl would trust her with this type of personal information.

"That's why I was surprised when you came up to me when I was in my other form two years ago. What type of person does something like that? You, like everyone else, were scared of me. You can't lie to me about that. I could see the uncertainty in your eyes. Even so, you were willing to listen to me and help me. It was a form of kindness that no one had ever given me until then."

Irene paused for a moment, before shyly taking something out of her pocket and showing it to Shuko, who held her breath at the sight of it. It was a black, blue, and white butterfly on a ring. It was very detailed. The markings on the wings were all precise and the wings looked identical.

"It's beautiful" she breathed.

Irene smiled happily. "You like it? I hoped you would. I made it myself. It's to show my thanks to you for taking care of a stranger like me for so long."

Shuko tentatively took the ring and put it on her fourth finger on her left hand. It fit perfectly. She smiled and hugged the girl beside her.

"Thank you. I'll treasure it."

The girl hugged her back, and then got off the bed, smiling at her senior with a strange expression. Shuko could make out happiness and...was that guilt?

"I just wanted to give it to you tonight. I'll get going now so you can sleep"

Irene walked to the door and opened it. Before she left, she looked at Shuko one last time.

"Goodbye," Shuko heard her whisper.

The next morning, Irene was no where to be found.

* * *

R&R please.


End file.
